


Showtime

by J (j_writes)



Category: Easy Allies RPF
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-29 05:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8477647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_writes/pseuds/J
Summary: "Ian, you saved E3!  I could kiss you right now!”





	

**Author's Note:**

> [fictional characters based on the internet personas of actual people, doing entirely fictional things.]

“Okay,” Ian’s voice floats up from somewhere near the floor. "Nobody touch anything. Nobody _breathe_ on anything. Are we live?“

Kyle waits, holding his breath as he watches the chatter scroll by on chat, Huber loudly declaring “Banana! Banana?” until Kyle starts to see the word scroll up the screen in response.

“We’ve got bananas!” he announces. “We’re live.”

“Hi, everybody!” Jones says from behind the desk, leaning toward the camera. "Sorry about that little technical snafu, but we are back now, we’re live, and we are ready to keep bringing you the latest on everything E3.“

Ian squirms out from under the desk where they’d been connecting cables, and flumps heavily down into the chair beside Kyle, draping dramatically across the table, scattering papers and an empty can that they catch deftly before it can tip over and make noise. "It’s _hot_ down there,” they say, setting the can carefully upright, and Kyle nods distractedly.

“Yeah,” he says, voice still tense, and he feels Ian’s hand land on his leg, petting it in a mockingly reassuring fashion.

“Hey, Bossy, calm yourself,” Ian says, peeking up at Kyle from under damp hair. "It’s cool, we fixed it.“

"Yeah,” Kyle repeats, and he breathes out, looking at Ian as they pull their hand back. "Yeah you did.“ He grins, taking in the sight of them, rumpled and flustered. "Ian, you saved E3! I could kiss you right now!” He says it like a joke, like the kind of dry drawling bit he’d do for the camera, but they’re not onscreen, and he realizes as he says it that he’s not saying it for an audience at all, except for Ian, for the way their eyebrows dart up, and they pick their head up from the desk, flicking hair from their eyes.

“Bosman, don’t tease me like that,” Ian says. The tone is light, a little mocking, but they meet Kyle’s eyes like a challenge. "I’ll do it. Right here, right now.“ 

Kyle laughs, ducking his head, letting Ian win this round of chicken, but when he looks up, expecting to see Ian turned back toward the main desk, they’re still watching him, reaching out to tug lightly on the end of his tie, twirling it between their fingers. Kyle’s laughter disappears instantly, his eyes dropping to Ian’s brightly colored nails standing out against the dark fabric of his tie, then darting to the desk, to the way Huber’s watching them with frank interest while Jones and Damiani talk, Brad starting to smirk beside him. Kyle bats Ian’s hand away, laughing again, but this time it’s forced, hollow, and he suddenly feels like he can’t get any air, like the garage is too hot and closing in around him, like he wants to be literally anywhere else, because now that the words are out there, not in front of the camera, not for some Kyle and Ian Show nonsense, he can imagine it, Ian’s eyes looking at him from under their hair, expression playful but with an edge to it, an intensity, and –

He pushes back from the table abruptly. "I’ll be right back,” he says, too low to be caught by the mics, but abrupt, too sharp, and he ducks out the back door onto Brandon’s lawn. He circles the house a few times, taking some laps, loosening his tie, gulping in air that isn’t much cooler than the air in the garage, and when he comes around the building the last time, he’s not quite surprised to see Ian there waiting for him, leaning against the wall, looking somewhere between concerned and sheepish.

“I’m sorry,” they say. They look like something out of a movie, dressed up just enough to match the rest of them, but still with their absurd pink sunglasses pushed up over their hair, holding it back like a headband, catching the sun, and the sincerity of the apology isn’t doing anything to help.

“Don’t worry about it,” Kyle says. “It’s just, you’re right. It’s hot in there.” 

“Yeah,” Ian agrees, and lets their head tip back against the garage. "Look, I know you’re stressed about – “ they wave a hand toward the garage, the faint sound of Jones’s voice. "But it’s going great. It really is. And we fixed that issue, and – ”

“I’m not stressed!” Kyle said, sharp and loud, and as soon as he hears the words, some of the tension in him cracks, and he lets out a matching laugh. "I…okay, I get that maybe that’s not the way to get that point across.“ He rubs a hand through his hair, making it stick up, and he can see Ian’s eyes dart up to it, the corner of their lips start to pull into a smile. "I might be stressed.”

“You might be,” Ian agrees. "A little bit.“

They reach out to pat Kyle’s tie down, still a bit twisted up from earlier, and this time he lets them. Out of view of the others, somehow, it’s easier, it’s almost calming to feel themselves falling back into this pattern of tease, flirt, take it nowhere. It’s calming, for now, but these moments keep happening, the ones where the tension stretches to the breaking point, where one of them takes it too far and the other one (Kyle, it’s always Kyle) gets scared and runs away, so instead of pulling back this time, Kyle lets his hand fall over Ian’s, holding their fingers lightly.

"Hey,” he says, and has no idea of where he’s going to go from there, not until he looks up at them and sees the honest surprise that he’s not backing away. "It’s not a tease. I mean, I’m _teasing_ , like I’m joking. Kind of. But it’s not…I make jokes like that and then don’t follow through because that’s my thing, that’s my bit, you know? But that doesn’t mean – “ he hesitates, but only briefly, because he knows they’re running out of time, knows that sooner or later someone’s going to stick their head out of the garage to get them, and he’s suddenly so sick of this endless cycle of tension and not knowing, and he has to do this now, immediately, or he’s never going to. "It doesn’t mean I don’t want to.”

Ian’s brow furrows, like Kyle’s having a completely different conversation from the one they were, and it takes a moment for them to tilt their head, the smile growing a little. "Want to…what? Want to kiss me?“

"I – ” Kyle breathes out an explosive sigh. “Yeah.”

Ian’s starting to grin, but in the way where they look like they’re waiting for the punch line. “You want to kiss me,” they repeat. Kyle nods wordlessly. "Well, shit, Bossy, you could have just said so.“

Their lips are warm and soft, and it’s too hot out for this, both of them in too many clothes to be near each other, let alone in contact, but Ian’s hand tangles into Kyle’s tie, and Kyle lets one of his slide up into Ian’s hair, enjoying the way their lips part at the touch, and it’s perfect in the way where nothing about it is perfect at all.

They’re both breathless when Kyle pulls away, Ian sprawled back against the side of the garage, and Kyle gives a soft laugh, reaching out a hand to tug Ian forward again. "I did,” he says, and Ian blinks, looking a little dazed.

“What?”

“I did say so. I said I wanted to kiss you.”

Ian grins and doesn’t take their hand away, instead tangling their fingers into Kyle’s as they back toward the door to the garage. “No, actually, what you said was you _could_ kiss me. We could all do a lot of things, Bosman, doesn’t mean we want to.” They give him a tug toward the door. "C'mon, they’re going to think we’re making out or something out here.“ They wink outrageously, and Kyle laughs.

"That, or killing each other,” he agrees.

“Well, it’s one or the other, with us,” Ian says brightly. Kyle keeps hold of Ian’s hand until they reach the door, and as he’s agonizing about whether or not to pull away before the others see him, they drop his instead, giving him a knowing look. "Oh, hell no, I’m not going to let them stop guessing about this for a long time,“ they say, and they don’t kiss Kyle again before breezing through the door, but they brush a hand against his side like another challenge, or maybe this time like a promise.


End file.
